1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to mind mapping systems, and, more particularly, to generating topics in a mind map that have a predefined behavior for display of a certain kind of content.
2. Description of the Background Art
A mind map is a diagram that represents ideas and/or information around a central topic. Mind maps are increasingly used to help people generate, classify, and/or organize ideas and information and to see such ideas and information in a hierarchical, visual layout. Mind maps are made up of hierarchically-arranged “topics.”
Mind maps are used for project management, work-flow analysis, organizational charts, and other purposes. FIG. 1a is an example of a mind map that organizes information and ideas related to a website update project. FIG. 1b is an example of a mind map for information related to a wireless communication project meeting. The main topics in FIG. 1b are “Action Items”, “Purpose”, “Agenda”, “Time Place”, “Participants”, and “Purpose.” Each of these topics has subtopics. For instance, “Implementation” is a subtopic for “Action Items,” and “Carry out Launch” is a subtopic of “Implementation.”
There are software programs that enable people to easily create mind maps. Mindjet, Inc.'s Mind Manager software is an example of such software. In known mind mapping software applications, users create topics in a mind map by inserting or importing texts and graphic elements into generic topics, where each topic start out as essentially the same, blank canvas (before the user enters data into it).
As users increasingly begin to use mind maps for more and more purposes, there is a desire to be able to embed rich content, such as graphics, tables, charts, videos, etc. into the mind map. Consequently, it would be desirable to have a mind mapping system that enables users to easily incorporate rich content into topics.